World Equestrian Games 2018: Where to park if you're going

A completed ramp leads to US-74 at the interchange with I-26 when coming from the south outside in Columbus near Tryon where the FEI World Equestrian Games will be held next month. (Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

The Tryon International Equestrian Center is situated on a 1,600-acre site off two-lane Water Mill Drive, 2.3 miles from Exit 170 on U.S. 74. But riders, horses, and event volunteers from 61 countries will exhaust the on-site parking, leaving visitors to find something in Mill Spring or Columbus, North Carolina (population 895).

TIEC spokesperson Kindra Beck said visitors will be directed to a parking area in an open field on NC 9 South, about five miles from the equestrian center. "Guests will be shuttled or bused onto show grounds from there," Beck said.

No easy route

The logistical challenges for these games are greater than they were in 2010, when the 12-day event was held in Lexington, Kentucky, the only other U.S. city to be a host.

Then, the games drew an average of 42,000 daily spectators, along with 632 athletes and 752 horses.

But seven major traffic arteries — Interstates 64 and 75, along with U.S. highways 25, 27, 60, 68 and 421 — helped people get around. And, like each of the other six cities that have hosted the WEG, the Lexington area was served by public transportaton.

The closest thing to public transportation this year is Uber/Lyft driver Toni Nick, who has mixed feelings about the anticipated crowds.

"I've heard they have downgraded the original estimates," Nick said recently. "But even if they have 200,000, it's going to be slow moving and hard to get everybody into the (Tryon Equestrian) center in the mornings."

But, she said, "In the afternoon, when everyone might be leaving at different times, it should be a lot easier."

For those using a ride service, a drop-off and pickup lot will be available on the north side of U.S. 74, at 3580 Pea Ridge Road. A shuttle will take visitors from there to the event venue. The lot will also be availabe for those needing wheelchair accessibility.

Work to be done

A big concern for Nick is U.S. 74. The divided four-lane road — the primary route into the area from Charlotte or Asheville — is now under construction near the equestrian center. She hopes the work will be completed before the start of the games on Sept. 12.

In a county of 20,558 residents, Columbus-area roads have never carried more than 6,000 vehicles, an estimate attached to the annual July 4 celebration in the city park. With the nearest motels about 20 miles away in Rutherfordton, most visitors will arrive by car.

Nick said the TIEC has hosted big crowds before, "a thousand or maybe two thousand ... but nothing of this magnitude."

Capt. Lowell Griffin of the Polk County Sheriff's Office admits the potential traffic is daunting.

"It's a monumental challenge, a real logistical wall," Griffin said of the looming traffic demands in Columbus, about 20 minutes and a two-lane road away from I-26.

"And this isn't for a single event, like you have for a football game or a festival," Griffin said. "Keeping up with the needs of all the roads and parking facilities every day for nearly two weeks is going to be hard."

The Polk County Sheriff's Office has 50 officers, about 550 fewer than Fayette County, Kentucky. Griffin said the North Carolina Highway Patrol will handle most of the traffic, but even its resources will be spread thin during the peak of college and high school football weekends.

Held every four years, the World Equestrian Games are typically staged in metro areas of more than 1 million residents. The Kentucky games in 2010 were one of only two to be held in a metro area of less than 1 million.

The 2018 games were originally awarded to Bromont, a ski-resort city of about 8,000 in Canada's French-speaking Quebec province, about 50 miles from Montreal. But a lack of funding forced the Canadians to withdraw in 2016, creating the unusual opportunity for the Columbus/Tryon area.